No wedding goes off without a surprise or two, and that’s true no matter who’s getting married. Multiple 2014 Grammy winners Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed their pro-gay marriage song “Same Love,” and, as expected, Queen Latifah presided over the marriages of dozens of couples. Also as expected, Madonna arrived to sing the Grammy equivalent of the ceremony’s recessional, in this case interpolating a bit of her straight-ahead 1986 love song “Open Your Heart.”

And sure, we should’ve expected “Same Love” guest vocalist Mary Lambert’s powerful singing would’ve overpowered the Material Girl, whose brand of pop stardom has always been about more than vocal technique. But here’s betting nobody predicted Madge would show up in a cowboy outfit reminiscent of her 2000 Music-album era. And did we detect a hint of a Southern drawl?

Macklemore, and this pro-gay marriage anthem, have been debated to death over the past year. But for the 33 couples onstage, and for supporters of marriage equality, it was hard not to feel at least a little bit like the visibly emotional Latifah. Shouts to New Orleans brass legend Trombone Shorty and his band Orleans Avenue, who were also part of the proceeding. And congrats to the happy newlyweds!

Around The Web \

Alessandro Cortini tends to surround himself with darkness. The Italian producer is most infamous as a torturer of modular synths and other bleak electronics for Los Angeles’ most famous industrial-goths, Nine Inch Nails. His previous solo LP, Sonno, slinked out on Prurient’s Hospital Productions — a bastion of the crepuscular, if there ever was one. And… More »